The Cabinet Formation in mid-February failed to boost investors’ sentiment that remained mostly stagnant. The number of construction permits slipped by 0.68% y-o-y to 11,311, noting that permits are usually issued at least six months after applications are filed. However, construction area authorized by permits (CAP) increased by 11.41% y-o-y, to 9,417,001 sqm in the first eight months of the year.
Therefore, the average area per permit reached 832.55 sqm/permit, up by 12.17% from August 2013’s 742.24 sqm/permit.
In August alone, the number of permits posted a 4.78% decrease, moving from 1,275 transactions in August 2013 to 1,214 transactions this year, while construction area grew by 10.30% y-o-y to 1,019,385 sqm. As for the regional breakdown, Mount Lebanon and the South captured the bulk of transactions in August alone, with respective 46.2% and 16.0% shares. North of Lebanon, Bikaa, and Nabatiye regions respectively grasped 12.5%, 10.4% and 10.2% shares, while Beirut took the remaining 4.7%.
Average Area per Permit Up to August (sqm/permit)
Source: Order of Engineers in Beirut and in the North